1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a canister mounting structure in a power generating apparatus, and more particularly to a mounting structure of a canister containing an adsorbent for adsorbing thereonto evaporative fuel evaporated from an engine fuel tank.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a conventional device having a canister containing the evaporative fuel adsorbent is described in Japanese Publication No. JP 7-34985. The device described in JP 7-34985 includes an engine, a fuel tank for storing fuel to be supplied to the engine, a canister containing an adsorbent for adsorbing fuel that evaporates from the fuel tank, and an evaporative fuel inlet pipe for introducing evaporative fuel purged from the adsorbent into an intake system of the engine. The device includes a communicating tube, through which the canister is in communication with the atmosphere.
The engine is driven by fuel supplied from the fuel tank and outputs a motive force of a predetermined magnitude. During the course of this operation, as described above, the adsorbent and the canister containing the adsorbent therein generally work as follows. Fuel vapor is roughly constantly produced in the fuel tank. During a period in which the engine is stopped or in a low-speed range as in idling, most of the fuel vapor is adsorbed by the adsorbent, thereby preventing the fuel vapor from being released into the atmosphere.
When the engine is in a medium-speed or high-speed operating range, a negative pressure builds up inside the intake system of the engine. The negative pressure causes atmospheric air to be sucked into the canister through the communicating tube of the canister. The fuel that evaporates from the fuel tank and flows toward the canister is sucked with the air, which is sucked into the canister through the communicating tube, into the intake system through the evaporative fuel inlet pipe and supplied to the engine therefrom, and then subjected to combustion. The fuel vapor that has been adsorbed onto the adsorbent is purged from the adsorbent by said sucked air, and subjected to combustion.
When the engine is operating, gas generally leaks from the combustion chamber to a valve actuating chamber and the like. The gas is what is called “blow-by gas” and contains unburned fuel. On this account, some conventional configurations include a blow-by gas inlet pipe through which the blow-by gas can be introduced into the intake system. According to such a configuration, the blow-by gas is introduced into the intake system through the blow-by gas inlet pipe, then subjected to combustion in the engine to prevent release of the blow-by gas into the atmosphere.
When the conventional art is applied to a power generating apparatus, a connector for connecting an evaporative fuel inlet pipe and the intake system and another connector for connecting the blow-by gas inlet pipe and the intake system are provided independently. This can complicate the structure of the engine and the manufacturing for the power generating apparatus.